Chess champion Garry Kasparov and actress Maureen Lipman join the festival 2016 programme

Almost 200 events now available to book

One of the greatest chess players of all time and leading pro-democracy Russian campaigner Garry Kasparov is to speak at this year’s FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival.

Kasparov, pictured right, will talk about his new book on Vladimir Putin and why he believes the Russian president is a threat to democracy and world peace.

Meanwhile, much-loved actress and writer Maureen Lipman, pictured left, is joined by poet Jeremy Robson and jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth for Blues in the Park, a mixture of music inspired by the jazz greats, poetry and humour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Oxford Literary Festival.

Almost 200 events have now been published on the festival website.

Recent additions to the programme include novelist, playwright and humourist Michael Frayn; renowned Spanish football writer and broadcaster Guillem Balague on his biography of Ronaldo; the former Labour spin doctor and BBC political journalist Lance Price; and historian Peter Frankopan.

Leading names previously announced include scientist Richard Dawkins, former children’s laureate Jacqueline Wilson, playwright Alan Ayckbourn, television explorer Levison Wood, philosopher A C Grayling, historian and broadcaster Simon Sebag Montefiore, and comedians David Baddiel and Julian Clary.

There will be around 250 events at this year’s festival, which takes place between Saturday, April 2, and Sunday, April 10, and the remaining ones will be added to the festival website as they are confirmed.

Events can be booked online now via this website. A walk-in and telephone box office will open at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford, on February 10.